For a printer friendly
version of this announcement please click on the link to open a PDF
version
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7946Y_1-2025-2-27.pdf
Rightmove plc, the UK's largest property portal, today
announces its audited results for the
year
ended 31 December 2024
Delivering at pace while
investing for growth
Key headlines
·
Leading platform and network effects -
o attracting the highest consumer engagement:
§ with
the UK's largest selection of properties(1)
§ accounting for over 80% of all consumer time spent on UK
property portals(2) - 16.4bn minutes in
2024(3) (2023:15.4bn)
§ Rightmove was the fourth-busiest UK-based digital platform in
2024(4), behind only the BBC, digital publisher Reach,
and the government's own website, Gov.uk
o clear value recognition by our partners,
including:
§ quickest-ever uptake for a top package (Optimiser
Edge)
§ the
second-highest estate agency retention in 10 years
·
Strategic Growth Areas of Commercial Property,
Mortgages, and Rental Services delivering operationally and
financially - up 27%(5)
year-on-year - with significant runways for
growth
· Technology innovation and AI usage accelerating, with over
5,000 releases in 2024 by 24 AI-enabled product teams,
strengthening the proposition for partners and consumers (2023:
3,700 releases by 16 product teams)
·
Headcount up 14% to just under 900 employees -
60% of new recruits were in technology roles
·
Underlying markets and platform strength support
confidence for 2025 and beyond
|
Financial highlights
|
2024
|
2023
|
Change vs
2023
|
% Change vs
2023
|
|
Revenue
|
£389.9m
|
£364.3m
|
£25.6m
|
7%
|
|
Operating profit
|
£256.3m
|
£258.0m
|
(£1.7m)
|
(1%)
|
|
Underlying operating
profit(6)
|
£273.9m
|
£264.6m
|
£9.3m
|
4%
|
|
Final dividend
|
6.1p
|
5.7p
|
0.4p
|
7%
|
|
Total dividend for the
year
|
9.8p
|
9.3p
|
0.5p
|
5%
|
|
Basic earnings per
share
|
24.4p
|
24.5p
|
(0.1p)
|
(0%)
|
|
Underlying basic earnings per
share(7)
|
26.2p
|
25.2p
|
1.0p
|
4%
|
·
Revenue up 7%, as estate agency and new homes
developer partners continued to upgrade their packages, increased
their use of digital products and renewed contracts
· Underlying operating profit(6) up 4%, with
underlying operating profit margin of 70%,(8) in line
with guidance. Operating profit down 1% due to the impact of
one-off transaction-related charges of
£9.2m(9)
·
Final dividend for 2024 up 7% to 6.1p per
ordinary share (2023: 5.7p). Total dividend for 2024 up 5% to 9.8p
(2023: 9.3p)
·
£181.7m of surplus cash returned to shareholders
through share buybacks and dividends during 2024 (2023:
£201.7m)
·
Cash and cash equivalents, including money market
deposits, at the end of the year of £41.3m (31 December 2023:
£38.8m)
Operational highlights
·
Consumer:
o Sustained traffic growth, with a total of 16.4 billion
minutes spent on the platform in the year(3), up 6%
(2023: 15.4 billion)
o Over 80% of traffic was direct and organic, while we also
invested in engaging all generations through channels including
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, across which engagement
increased by 39% year-on-year(10)
·
Partner:
o Continued growth in the uptake of our top packages:
"Optimiser Edge" for estate agents, with 31% of independent agents
subscribing (December 2023: 8%); and "Advanced" for new homes
developers, with 60% of developers subscribing (December 2023:
53%)
o Retention of existing partners was 90%, the second-highest in
the last 10 years (2023: 89%)
o Of all leads delivered by portals, Rightmove delivered over 7
out of 10 vendor instructions and over 8 out of 10 lettings
instructions(11)
·
Strategic Growth
Areas:
o Commercial Property delivered two major interface
changes,(12) attracted over 150 more partners, and
achieved over 60% of online consumer time(13)
o Rental Services saw over 500 partners sign up to its
end-to-end digital solution, Lead to Keys, of which one-third were
new partners to Rightmove, while referencing and ancillary revenue
grew by 12%
o Financial Services ("Mortgages") more than doubled its
revenues year-on-year to £4.7m (2023: £2.2m), introducing over
£24bn of potential lending to its partners
o Together, these three areas contributed £23m in revenue, and
20% of Group revenue growth
·
Innovation:
o Our product teams delivered more than 5,000 releases during
the year, including the increasing use of AI, while maintaining
99.99% site uptime and a 4.8* app rating
o Examples of new products for partners included a new
Commercial property brochure feature; a remortgage proposition;
company reports for multi-branch estate agencies; and native search
adverts for rental operators; while Premium Price Guide,
Opportunity Manager and Microsites were all
enhanced
o Examples of features for consumers included testing an
AI-driven tool for local area information; launch of My Places to
save favourite places and calculate journey times; the introduction
of the Renovation Calculator; enhanced EPC functionality on listed
properties; and new comparison features to assess affordability
with different mortgage providers
· Average revenue
per advertiser (ARPA)(14) rose £93 to £1,524 per
month (2023: £1,431). Estate agency ARPA(15) was £1,440,
increasing by 6% (2023: £1,356) and new homes developers'
ARPA(16) of £1,987 increased by 9% (2023: £1,825)
· Total membership increased by 1% to 19,047 (2023: 18,785),
with estate agency branches up 285/2% and new homes developments
down 23/1% since the start of 2024. Average total membership
across the year was flat with estate agency up 1%/100, offset by
new homes developments down 4%/133
Current end-market trends
Property end-market trends in the
early months of 2025 are supportive for our partners'
businesses. The Bank of England cut the base rate to 4.5% on
6 February 2025, the lowest level since June 2023, which is
beginning to feed through to lower lending rates for homemovers and
industry participants. In resale, sales agreed have been
ahead of 2019 levels since August 2024, while completions are
approaching 2019 levels, supporting pipelines and agent
confidence. Within the lettings sub-market, supply and demand
are rebalancing slightly, although enquiries per available property
remain above pre-Covid levels. For new homes developers,
there has been a steady improvement in the number of developments
coming to market through the second half of 2024 and into
2025.
Outlook
Our financial performance in 2024
reflected the strength of our leading platform, with powerful data
and network effects, and a proven ability to grow profits and
cashflows in all market conditions.
In 2025, we will continue to build a
larger, more diversified, digital Rightmove ecosystem in line with
our strategy. We expect revenue growth of 8-10%, building on our
progress in 2024 and benefiting from: the full-year impact of
Optimiser Edge uptake; further product-led growth across our core
business; and continued progress within our Strategic Growth Areas
of Commercial Property, Mortgages and Rental Services. We
expect c1% growth in membership and ARPA growth of £95 - £105
across estate agency and new homes developers.
As we continue to invest in
innovation for our consumers and partners, and in accelerating our
Strategic Growth Areas, we expect an underlying operating margin of
70%.
The strength of our business model,
our clear strategy, and our focus on innovation underpin the
Board's confidence in Rightmove's outlook for 2025 and
beyond.
Johan Svanstrom, Chief Executive Officer,
said:
"We delivered strong results, demonstrating yet again the
resilience of Rightmove's business model. Consumers visited the
Rightmove platform 2.3 billion times in 2024, and with the UK's
largest selection of properties for sale and to rent they spent a
combined 16.4 billion minutes searching and using our expanding set
of valuable tools.
"We're continuing to invest in technology and products to
make the platform even more useful and effective for both partners
and consumers. 24 AI-enabled teams of software engineers delivered
over 5,000 releases, features and enhancements in
2024.
"We have a clear strategy to further digitise the home moving
market, powered by the UK's largest set of property data and
insights. There is a long runway of opportunity to both
broaden and deepen Rightmove's services on one connected platform,
and our team is continuing to drive that momentum in
2025."
The
Company will present its results at a meeting today for analysts
and investors at 9:30am, available online here:
https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/33nhptvv
Enquiries:
Investor
Relations
investor.relations@rightmove.co.uk
Sodali
rightmove@sodali.com
(1) Source: Joreca, November
2024
(2) Time in minutes spent on Rightmove platforms
(site and app): most recent available month of data. Source:
Comscore MMX® Desktop only + Comscore Mobile Metrix® Mobile
Web & App, Total Audience, Custom-defined list of Rightmove
sites, zoopla.co.uk, primelocation.com, onthemarket.com, United
Kingdom, December 2024 (83%)
(3) Source: Google Analytics
(4) Comscore MMX Multi-Platform, Top 100
Properties, Total Audience, January-December 2024, UK. Based on
'Total Pageviews' of websites that were founded or primarily based
in the UK
(5) Strategic Growth Areas' revenue - 2023:
£18.4m, 2024: £23.4m
(6) Underlying operating profit is operating profit
before share-based payments charges (including the related National
Insurance charge) and transaction-related charges
(7) Underlying basic EPS is defined as underlying
profit (profit for the year before share-based payments charges
including the related National Insurance, transaction-related
charges and appropriate tax adjustments), divided by the weighted
average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the
period
(8) Underlying operating margin is defined as
the underlying operating profit as a percentage of
revenue
(9) Comprises legal and professional fees of
£6.2m relating to the HomeViews acquisition, investment in Coadjute
and the unsolicited offer for Rightmove, in addition to a £3.0m
charge in relation to the investment in Coadjute (Coadjute is
strategic and longer-term in its nature and the acquisition cost of
£3.0m is considered to have a fair value of £nil and is recognised
in the Income Statement as a strategic research-related
cost)
(10) December 2024 vs December 2023, for Facebook,
Instagram, LinkedIn, Tiktok. 'Engagement' defined as
reactions, comments, shares, saves, link clicks and profile
actions
(11) Vendor instructions source: Street (January -
December 2024), compared to all UK portals. Lettings instructions
source: RLTS tenant survey, compared to all UK portals.
Question: "How did you find the property you are applying
for?"
(12) https://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property
(13) Source: SimilarWeb, 1 January - 31 December
2024
(14) Average Revenue per Advertiser (ARPA) is
calculated as revenue from Agency and New Homes advertisers in a
given month divided by the total number of advertisers during the
month, measured as a monthly average over the
year
(15) Agency ARPA is calculated as revenue from Agency
advertisers/customers in a given month divided by the total number
of advertisers during the month, measured as a monthly average for
the year
(16) New Homes ARPA is calculated as revenue from new
homes developers in a given month divided by the total number of
advertisers during the month, measured as a monthly average for the
year
Chair's Review
Rightmove is an exceptional business with significant
opportunities, a clear strategy and a strong team to continue to
deliver significant value for all our
stakeholders
It is my pleasure to present
Rightmove's results for the year ended 31 December 2024. Our
strong financial results demonstrate the ongoing power of the
Group's platform and business model and the meaningful value we
deliver for our partners, consumers and all our
stakeholders.
Rightmove remains the place that
consumers turn to first, and return to the most, as they search for
property market data and research tools to help them make their
move. Traffic to the Rightmove site increased 6%, with consumers
spending 16.4bn minutes on Rightmove during 2024 (2023: 15.4bn),
and the vast majority of consumer time spent on property portals in
the UK continued to be on Rightmove.
In turn, our partners continued to
trust the Rightmove platform and invest in the variety of digital
products which support them not only in advertising and generating
leads, but in understanding their local markets and creating new
opportunities to grow their businesses. We remained focused on
innovation and investment in product development, growing the range
of digital tools available across the platform. Our dual
focus on consumer engagement and partner products enables us to
produce superior results for our partners, ensuring we are building
success together.
I am pleased to see the pace of
delivery across both consumers and partner innovation higher than
it has ever been. We have embraced the transformative power of AI,
implementing cutting-edge efficiency tools across our business and
successfully delivering innovative machine-learning and AI
solutions for our partners and consumers. Building on this
momentum, we will accelerate our progress even further in 2025,
driving new levels of impact and innovation.
Helping to build a greener property
market remained high on our agenda during the year, and we
continued to expand our role through leveraging our vast datasets
to provide green insights and allow consumers to make more informed
decisions. Our contribution was recognised in the award of a Prime
ESG rating by Institutional Shareholder Services
(ISS).
During 2024, the Board focused on
supporting the management team in the ongoing delivery of our
strategic ambitions over the medium term. As the business continued
to grow, the number of employees expanded by 14% during the year,
to just under 900, with 60% of new hires being in technology roles
as we continue to focus investing in products and innovation. The
leadership team evolved with a new Chief People Officer, the
introduction of a Chief Data Officer role, and several other new
senior leaders across the business.
It is the talented, experienced team
who deliver the value that Rightmove provides to its partners and
other stakeholders. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank
all our partners for their continued confidence in Rightmove, and
our exceptional team for their dedication and hard work as we
continually strive to exceed the expectations of all our
stakeholders.
The Board also focused on carefully
reviewing and responding to the unsolicited offer from REA, whilst
engaging with shareholders during that process. The Board is
grateful to all its shareholders who engaged and provided their
views. Rightmove is an exceptional business and we are
confident that we will deliver significant future value for
shareholders.
Financial highlights and dividend
The Group's results reflect the
strength of the business model and our core value proposition.
Revenue grew 7% to £389.9m (2023: £364.3m), delivering underlying
operating profit(1) of £273.9m (2023: £264.6m) and
statutory operating profit of £256.3m (2023: £258.0m).
Rightmove continued to generate very
strong free cashflow and, in keeping with our policy of returning
all surplus cash to our shareholders, £181.7m (2023: £201.7m) was
returned in the year: £107.4m through the share buyback programme
and £74.3m in dividend payments made in May and October. The
cash(2) position at the year-end was £41.3m (2023:
£38.8m).
The Board remains confident in
Rightmove's ability to deliver sustainable returns to shareholders
and is recommending a final dividend of 6.1p per share for 2024
(2023: 5.7p), taking the total dividend for the year to 9.8p (2023:
9.3p), in line with our progressive policy. The final dividend will
be paid, subject to shareholder approval, on 24 May
2025.
Board changes
On 15 September 2024, Alison Dolan
stepped down from her position as CFO and as an Executive Director
and left the Group on 30 September. I would like to thank Alison
for the significant contribution she made to the Board throughout
her tenure and to the continued success of Rightmove.
Ruaridh Hook was appointed to the
Board as CFO and Executive Director on 15 September 2024. Having
been with the business since 2016, he brings deep knowledge of
Rightmove, its commercial model and the market, and is already well
known both within the organisation and externally.
Board governance
The Corporate Social Responsibility
Committee continued to guide and oversee progress in the delivery
of our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy,
ensuring continuous improvement and alignment with best practice.
The CSR Committee received
comprehensive updates on People and Culture, including progress on
Diversity, Equality and Inclusion initiatives, and on Go Greener,
one of Rightmove's two key initiatives.
The Audit Committee oversaw the
transition from outsourced internal audit to an in-house function
and the appointment of a new Head of Internal Audit &
Assurance. A key priority of the Committee was monitoring the
progress across the business towards readiness for the Corporate
Governance reforms.
Looking ahead
Rightmove is a business positioned
for sustained growth with a clear strategy and a strong team. Our
mission to make the UK property market easier and simpler, through
providing a superior platform and data to facilitate this, ensures
that everyone can make their move whilst delivering exceptional
value to all our stakeholders.
We move into 2025 with a stronger
platform, further differentiated proposition and increased
capabilities. I am excited about the opportunities ahead and
confident in Rightmove's ability to realise these.
Andrew Fisher
Chair
(1) Underlying operating profit is
defined as operating profit before share-based payments charges
(including the related National Insurance) and transaction related
charges
(2) Cash includes money market
deposits of £5.5m (2023: £5.2m)
Chief Executive's review
Delivering our diversified growth strategy at accelerated
pace to drive value for stakeholders
I am very pleased to report
continued financial, operational and strategic progress for
Rightmove during 2024. We delivered strong financial growth,
reflecting the increased quality and range of digital products we
offered to both consumers and our partners, whilst driving forward
the strategy that was set out at the end of 2023 to expand and
broaden our business.
We have a complete view of our
partners' end-markets, the UK residential and commercial property
sector. Housing market activity started the year slowly, with
consumers cautious in the face of high interest rates, before
gradually improving. The year ended with the number of housing
sales transactions slightly ahead of 2023 at 1.1
million(1) (2023: 1.0 million). In the lettings market,
the recent years' strong imbalance of more demand from prospective
tenants than properties available (supply) reduced over 2024, yet
remains roughly double the level seen before the pandemic. New
homes development numbers declined in the first half of the year,
before recovering into the year-end. Our partners, in both
estate agency and new homes development, worked hard to win new
buyer and vendor mandates and then to close sales. They continued
to trust in Rightmove, and increased their uptake of our products,
data solutions and premium packages to drive their
businesses.
Total revenue for the year increased
by 7% on 2023, demonstrating the resilience of our business model
through property market cycles and the value we deliver. Core
membership numbers ended the year ahead of 2023 at 19,047 (up
262/1%), driven by growth in Agency branches (up 285/2%), partially
offset by a decline in new homes developments (down 23/1%)
reflecting the challenging market for developers and fewer new
build developments coming to market. Our Other business units grew
strongly at a combined rate of 13%.
Our
strategy - delivering exceptional value to consumers, our partners
and all our stakeholders through digitising the UK property
market
Our vision is to give everyone the
belief they can make their move. Our strategy is to deliver
exceptional value to both our partners and consumers by leveraging
our platform, which contains the UK's largest property data,
audience and partner base. We are excited about the significant
long-term opportunities for further digitising the property
eco-system, where our scale will yield results for all our
stakeholders.
During the year we made strong
progress in further cloud-enabling our platform and, with expanded
technology team resources, we are now driving more and faster
product releases and innovation. We are leveraging the power
of artificial intelligence, underpinned by the 3.0
petabytes(2) in our data platform, to delight consumers,
drive partner value, monetise data, and gain internal
efficiencies. Some examples are set out in the sections
below.
Helping consumers move more
easily
Throughout 2024 Rightmove remained
the place that consumers chose to turn to first and engage
with for property search and
research. Over 80% of all time spent
on property portals in the UK was spent on Rightmove (3)
and Google continued to report that more people start their
property searches with 'Rightmove' than with 'Property'
(4). During 2024, consumers visited the Rightmove
platform over 2.3 billion times (2023: 2.2 billion) and spent over
16.4 billion minutes searching for properties or researching the
market, 6% higher than 2023 (2023: 15.4 billion). 73% of all time
spent on Rightmove's platforms in 2024 was to our mobile site and
apps (2023: 71%).
This consumer engagement not only
reflects the quality of the platform experience and the
salience of our brand,
but also supports Rightmove's platform as the largest choice of
residential properties available for rent or sale compared to any
other property portal(5).
We are continually investing in our
platform, products and content, ensuring that home movers have
everything they need make informed decisions for their move, now or in the future. During 2024, key parts of the platform were
redesigned to improve user experience and navigation to quickly
find or be served information. This included new feature functionality onto the
main search pages and adding significant amounts of new and
detailed information for each individual property, previously only
available by calling the estate agent or developer. For
instance, the property listing Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
functionality was enhanced (resulting in 23% more engagement with
this tool), supporting our goals to bring
more transparency and knowledge on sustainability in the property
market. We added
several features to our apps, including AI functionality to
keywords and location content.
We actively learn more about our
consumers and then develop more personalised and relevant
experiences for them, with a focus on the serious home hunters. We
ended the year with 8.7 million consumers signed up to our
marketing (doubling the number of home moving profiles to over 6
million at the end of 2024, compared to 2.4 million in 2023) and
with a 20% increase in consumers who are 'signed in' to Rightmove;
both of which improved our data signal universe which we use for future product development and enhancing
partner products. We are capturing the
information in a completely new consumer engagement platform
implemented during the second half of 2024.
We built
out several components of the 'Afford' part of our strategy to
digitally assist the home-moving process; next to our Mortgage in
Principle product we grew tools like Track
a Property and the Renovator Calculator tool. The latter allows
consumers to understand how larger home upgrades will affect the
value of their home, or one under
consideration, and saw over 60,000 completions in only 4 months
after launch.
Exceptional returns and
value for our partners
Rightmove's consumer reach provides
our partners with the largest UK property audience and platform to
advertise their brands, services and properties. Our goal is to
enable success for estate agents, homes builders, landlords, and
financial services providers by offering a wide and very
data-driven range of digital marketing and efficiency
products. Our partners can choose what is most suitable for
their specific business objectives and local market, given any
prevailing macroeconomic conditions.
Our premium packages allow our
partners to tailor their entire package, select products relevant
to them and gain optional access to exclusive products that are not
otherwise available. During the year, there were significant
increases in uptake of our top packages by both estate agents and
new homes developers. By the end of 2024, over 60% of
developers were subscribed to the new homes package Advanced (2023:
53%) and 3,492 of our estate agent partners had adopted Optimiser
Edge (2023: 934).
The uptake of the new and exclusive
products within the top packages also increased significantly in
the year, demonstrating the value provided from our on-going
investment and product development. Native Search Adverts (an
interactive advert on the search results page that drives enhanced
consumer engagement and the ability to re-target consumers) was
used by nearly four times as many agents in 2024 than 2023. The
uptake of the Premium Price Guide (providing data-backed
personalised reporting to support agents' valuations) increased
three-fold.
Our lead generation products -
Rightmove Discover and Local Valuation Alert - are based on our
unique consumer behaviour data and increase the comparative value
of a Rightmove sales lead. We continued to refine these products
during the year and uptake increased by 7%.
In addition to marketing and lead
generation, we further invested in helping our estate agency
partners run their businesses more efficiently, under a programme
that we call Building Success Together. This programme is
built on research and engagement with our partner base, and
comprises four pillars they told us are most important to
them:
·
Insight: the digital tools and intelligence that
sit in the partner platform, Rightmove Plus, were revamped and
redesigned during 2024. This meant that running day-to-day
operations, such as managing property listings, accessing data and
generating reports such as the Best Price Guide (used over 21
million times during 2024), became more intuitive and easier to
navigate for the 92% of independent UK estate agents who use
Rightmove Plus.
·
Training: we expanded the range of educational
programmes and events on offer to our partners, much of it
accessible through the Rightmove Hub. Partners have access to a
suite of webinars, professional training programmes and
Ofqual-regulated Level 3 certifications, as well as the provision
of other educational materials and tracking tools for their
employees. By the end of 2024, 68% of estate agency branches had a
Rightmove Hub account, compared to 56% in 2023, and had engaged
over 32,000 times on the training suite. Over 2,500 agents signed
up to the Certificate for Estate and Lettings Agents qualification
(CELA), with over 25,000 training course enrolments (more than
double 2023's 11,409); and we welcomed over 9,000 webinar guests
from our partners in the year.
·
Control: we increased the number of self-serve
tasks available for agents using our platforms, with 65% of user
changes now capable of being administered digitally by the partner,
allowing them to make the changes they need whenever they
want.
·
Advocacy: we continued to champion our partners,
influencing policy makers and working together with agents on
shared problems. For example, we were the only property
portal to have interviews with Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer ahead
of the election, advocating for various actions we believe will
stimulate mobility and affordability in the property
market.
Investing in Strategic
Growth Areas
Our investment in digital innovation
extended beyond the core business of Agency and New Homes, to three
strategic growth areas of Commercial Property, Mortgages and Rental
Services. We see significant multi-year opportunities to go deeper
into the value chain, further digitising processes beyond 'find'
and into 'afford', as well as the later stages of 'transact',
'move' and 'lifestyle' - and to scale quickly. We build out
these services as logical layers of our core platform, further
strengthening that core and network effects by increasing use cases
and aggregating data.
Our Commercial business is dedicated
solely to commercial properties, with commercial consumers ranging
from FTSE businesses, industrial warehouses and offices operators,
to small advisors and retailers. We developed new landing pages and
an underlying data model, launched new Rightmove Commercial
branding and insights reports, and a new product 'Brochure Leads'.
Commercial revenue grew 11% during 2024, with membership increasing
by 17%.
Our Mortgages digital offering
provides consumers with the ability to assess their borrowing
affordability through obtaining an almost instant Mortgage in
Principle (MiP) on Rightmove, direct from our lender partner.
Alternatively, they can connect and speak to one of our agents'
preferred brokers. In 2024, we helped more consumers than
ever continue their search and move with a Mortgage in Principle:
as uptake on MiPs, and mortgage revenue(6), more than
doubled. We delivered a range of product enhancements and content
expansions, such as comparisons between consumers' existing and new
mortgage providers, and applications for both purchase and
remortgage. We saw a significant increase of awareness and search
ranking for mortgage related terms, thanks to our early product
marketing.
In Rental Services, 2024 was the
first full year of selling 'Lead to Keys', which is our new digital
end-to-end product for lettings agents, landlords and renters,
whereby a rental agreement can be achieved in five digitised and
efficient steps. Having launched towards the end of 2023 with
31 agents, Lead to Keys is in the early days of its potential.
However, it is growing fast and we saw over 500 agents signed up to
the service by the end of 2024. We expanded the product range and
feature functionality within the two main products, Tenancy Manager
and Enquiry Manager, to both source and then qualify potential
tenants quickly. Rightmove's strong existing upper funnel position
of tenancy applications enables a strong and efficient process flow
for rental agents adopting the service.
Making a difference and
contributing to communities and the environment
Doing the right thing underpins our
culture and extends to the communities in which we operate and to
the environment. We believe that Rightmove can, and should, make a
positive difference in these areas.
Giving back to communities and
charities remains high on our agenda and we launched a new
'give-back' employee volunteering days program and matched cash
donations. We continued to support select charities with both
funding and time, supporting local communities in which we operate,
as well as national causes like homelessness.
As for environmental sustainability,
with the UK property market contributing 25% of total UK emissions
(7) we believe that Rightmove has not just the
opportunity, but the responsibility, to provide unique data and
insights to help the UK go greener and to accelerate change to meet
its Net Zero targets by 2050. The Rightmove platform's reach
and vast historical and real time data, is used to inform and
facilitate action amongst many different stakeholders.
During 2024 we continued with our Go
Greener initiative, which provides a pathway to greener property in
the UK, and published our third Greener Homes report (8)
in October. This report was based on millions of Rightmove's
property data points, as well as government data and opinions from
thousands of homeowners, landlords and renters that we surveyed. It
provided suggestions and insights on the incentives that are needed
to help people make green improvements.
We also continued to focus on
improving Rightmove's own operational emissions and
targets.
Moving forward with the
Rightmove team
2024 was a year of growth; not only
in our financial results but in our team of 'Rightmovers', which
expanded by 14% to just under 900 employees. New teams
were created, and existing teams were bolstered, to ensure we
continue to deliver on our strategy through providing exceptional
value to our partners and consumers: driving improvement and
efficiencies across both their businesses and our own. Of these new
recruits, 60% were in technology roles demonstrating our commitment
to accelerating innovation across all parts of Rightmove,
particularly from leveraging AI solutions.
The Rightmove team underpins
Rightmove's success. Our creative, innovative, collaborative and
inclusive workforce is committed to delivering for our partners and
consumers. Diversity and learning are core to our People agenda and
benefits everyone and the business itself, by ensuring a more
enjoyable workplace and a broad range of perspectives that promote
innovation and business success.
I am proud of what Rightmove is
delivering, its impact on generating value for the UK property
market and our progress in digitising the value chain across the UK
property ecosystem. I am excited by our ambition for the
future and look forward to supporting the team in delivering our
vision.
Johan Svanstrom
Chief Executive Officer
27 February 2025
(1) Residential property
transactions in the UK recorded by the Land Registry
(2) Source - Rightmove Data
Services
(3) Source: Comscore Mobile Metrix®
Mobile App only, total Audience, Custom-defined list of Rightmove
(Mobile App) and Zoopla Property Search (Mobile App), January -
December 2024, United Kingdom.
(4) Source: Google
analytics
(5) Source: (Joreca, November
2024
(6) Mortgage revenue - 2024: £4.7m,
2023: £2.2m
(7) Source - UK Green Building
Council
(8) Source - Green Homes Report
available at
https://hub.rightmove.co.uk/greener-homes-report-2024/
Financial Review
A
strong financial performance, during a year of continued
investment, driven by growing demand for our digital products and
services
Revenue
Revenue increased by £25.6m/7% on
2023 to £389.9m (2023: £364.3m). Agents and new homes developers
continued to trust the Rightmove platform and products to help them
grow their businesses. This was despite a
subdued property market for much of the year and a challenging
environment for new homes sales. Estate agency membership retention, at 90%, was the
second highest in a decade, whilst overall membership remained
broadly flat on 2023, reflecting fewer new homes' developments
coming to market. Other business units grew strongly, led by
mortgages and commercial.
|
|
2024
£m
|
2023
£m
|
Change vs 2023
£m
|
Change vs 2023
%
|
|
Agency
|
280.0
|
262.0
|
18.0
|
7%
|
|
New Homes
|
69.2
|
66.4
|
2.8
|
4%
|
|
Other
|
40.7
|
35.9
|
4.8
|
13%
|
|
Total revenue
|
389.9
|
364.3
|
25.6
|
7%
|
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
Change vs
2023
|
Change vs 2023
%
|
|
Agency branches
|
16,124
|
15,839
|
285
|
2%
|
|
New Homes
developments
|
2,923
|
2,946
|
(23)
|
(1%)
|
|
Total membership
|
19,047
|
18,785
|
262
|
1%
|
Agency revenues increased to
£280.0m, up 7%/£18.0m on 2023. This was due to agents continuing to
invest in package upgrades and additional products. We saw the
quickest ever adoption of our top end package, Optimiser Edge, with
over 1,600 partners upgrading across the year and a further 1,100
migrating from the Optimiser 20 package. Agency ARPA(1)
increased 6%/£84 to £1,440 (2023: £1,356). ARPA growth saw a 1%
impact from a higher proportion of lower ARPA lettings joiners this
year. 60% of ARPA growth came from product purchases, with the
largest drivers being upgrades to the Optimiser Edge package and
partners buying incremental product as part of their current
package. Membership ended the year up 2% compared to 2023 at
16,124 branches (2023: 15,839).
New Homes revenue, at £69.2m, was up
4%/£2.8m on 2023 and reflected upgrades to the top package
(Advanced) and successful contract renewals. New Homes
ARPA(2) increased 9%/£162 to £1,987 per development per
month (2023: £1,825). However, the revenue impact of increased
average spend by new homes' developers was partially offset by
development numbers, which were on average across the year 4% lower
than in 2023 and ended the year at 2,923, a decrease of 1%/23 on
December 2023 (2023: 2,946).
The £4.8m growth in Other business
units was led by Mortgages, which grew £2.5m to £4.7m, more than
doubling year-on-year, as more consumers assessed their
affordability and borrowing ability using our Mortgages in
Principle product. Commercial Real Estate revenues grew by
£1.3m/11% to £13.5m, with increased membership numbers of 154/17%.
The Other business units of Data Services, Overseas and Third Party
contributed a combined £1.0m of growth.
2024 Revenue vs 2023
2024 Revenue by
area
Administration costs
Operating costs of £133.6m were up
26%/£27.3m from £106.3m in 2023.
Underlying operating
costs(3) (operating costs excluding share-based payment
charges of £8.4m and transaction related costs of £9.2m) were
£116.0m, an increase of 16%/£16.3m on 2023 (2023:
£99.7m).
The increase in underlying
costs(3) reflects the planned investment in headcount
in-line with our strategy, mainly in technology roles to support
the growth of Mortgages, Commercial and Rental Services and
increased innovation across the business.
The cost increases
comprised:
·
£10.5m payroll costs: reflecting a 14% increase
in year end headcount (879 vs 774 in 2023), of which 60% of the new
roles were technology roles and an increase in average salary costs
from the annual salary increase of 4%, to support employees with
the higher cost of living, and other benchmarking and performance
uplifts adding a further 3% across the year;
·
£2m technology related costs: mainly due to
increased spend on IT infrastructure, continued migration to the
Cloud and investment in security software;
·
£2m marketing costs: reflecting investment in
digital social media marketing and in third party advertising
partners, as well as in our strategic growth areas;
·
£1m depreciation and amortisation: mostly
increased amortisation arising from the increased investment in
product development (£0.5m), as well as the acquired HomeViews
assets (£0.3m).
The share-based payments charge of
£8.4m increased £1.8m on 2023 (2023: £6.6m), following new awards,
as well as a higher related national insurance charge due to the
impact of the increase in the share price during the
year.
Transaction related costs of £9.2m
(2023: nil) related to:
·
Legal and professional fees of £6.2m, arising
from the HomeViews acquisition and investment in Coadjute during
the first half and the costs incurred in relation to the
unsolicited offer for Rightmove in the second half; and
·
A £3.0m charge in relation to the investment in
Coadjute, which is strategic and longer-term in its nature and the
acquisition cost of £3.0m is considered to have a fair value of
£nil and is recognised in the Income Statement as a strategic
research-related cost (see Note 13).
Operating profit
|
|
2024
£m
|
2023
£m
|
Change vs 2023
£m
|
Change vs 2023
%
|
|
Revenue
|
389.9
|
364.3
|
25.6
|
7%
|
|
Administrative expenses
|
(133.6)
|
(106.3)
|
(27.3)
|
(26%)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating profit
|
256.3
|
258.0
|
(1.7)
|
(1%)
|
|
Operating margin
|
66%
|
71%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Excluding charges that are not entirely driven by the
principal operational activity of the Group:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share-based payments
charges
|
8.4
|
6.6
|
1.8
|
27%
|
|
Transaction related costs
|
9.2
|
-
|
9.2
|
100%
|
|
Underlying operating profit(4)
|
273.9
|
264.6
|
9.3
|
4%
|
|
Underlying operating margin(5)
|
70%
|
73%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Operating profit of £256.3m
decreased by 1%/£1.7m on 2023, with an operating profit margin for
2024 of 66% (2023: 71%).
Underlying operating
profit(4) of £273.9m increased by 4%/£9.3m compared to
2023 (2023: £264.6m), with an underlying operating profit
margin(5) of 70% (2023: 73%).
Taxation
Profit before taxation of £258.4m
reduced 1%, with a tax charge of £65.7m (2023: £60.6m). This
represents an effective tax rate for the year of 25.4%
(2023: 23.3%), slightly above the UK's standard rate for the
year of 25.0% (2023:23.5%) due to the impact of non-deductible
charges.
Rightmove's total tax contribution
to the UK Exchequer in 2024 was £161.0m (2023: £148.4m). Of
this, £75.0m (2023: £69.1m) related to taxes borne by the Group,
while the remaining £86.0m (2023: £79.2m) was collected in respect
of payroll taxes and VAT. The increase in total tax
contribution compared to the prior year is primarily due to the
full year impact of the corporation tax rate of 25.0% (effective 1
April 2023).
Earnings per share (EPS)
Basic EPS reduced 0.1p to 24.4p
(2023: 24.5p) reflecting the reduction in profit (due to the impact
of the one-off transaction related costs and the full year higher
tax rate in 2024), which more than offset the impact of the share
buyback programme in reducing weighted average number of ordinary
shares in issue by 3% to 790.2m (2023: 813.3m).
Underlying basic EPS(6)
(based on underlying operating profit(4)) increased by
4% to 26.2p (2023: 25.2p).
Balance sheet
Summary consolidated statement of financial
position
|
|
2024
£m
|
2023
£m
|
Change
£m
|
|
Property, plant and
equipment
|
8.4
|
9.4
|
(1.0)
|
|
Intangible assets
|
36.2
|
21.8
|
14.4
|
|
Deferred tax asset
|
1.4
|
2.4
|
(1.0)
|
|
Trade and other
receivables
|
29.0
|
31.5
|
(2.5)
|
|
Contract assets
|
1.3
|
0.8
|
0.5
|
|
Income tax receivable
|
0.9
|
0.2
|
0.7
|
|
Money market deposits
|
5.5
|
5.2
|
0.3
|
|
Cash
|
35.8
|
33.6
|
2.2
|
|
Trade and other payables
|
(27.0)
|
(24.7)
|
(2.3)
|
|
Contract liabilities
|
(3.2)
|
(2.5)
|
(0.7)
|
|
Lease liabilities
|
(6.2)
|
(7.5)
|
1.3
|
|
Provisions
Other liabilities
|
(0.8)
(0.4)
|
(0.8)
-
|
(0.0)
(0.4)
|
|
Net
assets
|
80.9
|
69.4
|
11.5
|
Rightmove's balance sheet at 31
December 2024 shows net assets and total equity at £80.9m (2023:
£69.4m), including cash and money market deposits of £41.3m (2023:
£38.8m).
The increase in intangible assets of
£14.4m, to £36.2m, is due to the acquisition of HomeViews, which
generated goodwill and intangible assets of £8.8m, as well as the
impact of capitalised internal labour costs totalling £8.0m, offset
by amortisation of £2.4m.
Trade and other receivables of
£29.0m decreased by £2.5m on December 2023, reflecting improved
ageing of trade receivables, which decreased to £21.8m (2023:
£24.5m).
Trade and other payables of £27.0m
increased by £2.3m due to timing of accruals and other
payments. Payments to suppliers continued
to be made well within agreed payment terms.
The closing cash balance, including
money market deposits, was £41.3m (2023: £38.8m). Surplus
cash continues to be invested in short-term, easily accessible
deposits, including in a green money-market fund.
Cashflow, capital structure and dividends
Cash generation remained strong at
108% of operating profit(7) (2023: 104%) with the
increase on the prior year mostly due to improved working capital.
Cash generated from operating activities increased by £9.4m to
£277.6m (2023: £268.2m). Cash used in investing activities grew to
£17.2m (2023: £1.7m) largely reflecting the acquisitions of
HomeViews and Coadjute, as well as increased investment in product
development.
As a result of this increased
investment in the business, and an increase in cash invested in the
employee benefit trust to further encourage employee share
ownership, the cash returned to shareholders in the buyback
programme during the year reduced to £107.4m (2023:
£130.0m).
Dividends totalling £74.3m were paid
in the year in relation to the final 2023 dividend payment and
interim 2024 payment (2023: £71.7m). The Group purchased and
cancelled 18.8m ordinary shares during the year (2023: 24.0m), at a
cost of £108.2m (including expenses of £0.8m) as part of its
ongoing share buyback programme (2023: £130.9m).
Our capital allocation policy
remains unchanged. We continue to prioritise organic
investment whilst continuing to evaluate value-accretive M&A
opportunities that might help us to accelerate the execution of our
strategy. Surplus cashflow is returned via our longstanding
progressive dividend policy, following which all remaining surplus
cash generated in the year is returned via share
buybacks.
Consistent with this policy, the
Directors are recommending a final dividend of 6.1p per ordinary
share, which will take the total dividend for the year to 9.8p -
growth of 5% on the 2023 dividend. The final dividend,
subject to shareholder approval, will be paid on 23 May 2025 to all
shareholders on the register on 25 April 2025.
Ruaridh Hook
Chief Financial Officer
27 February 2025
(1)
Agency ARPA is calculated as revenue from Agency customers in a
given month divided by the total number of advertisers during the
month, measured as a monthly average over the year
(2)
New Homes ARPA is calculated as revenue from New Homes developers
in a given month divided by the total number of developers during
the month, measured as a monthly average over the year
(3)
Underlying costs are defined as administrative expenses before
share-based payments charges (including the related National
Insurance) and transaction related charges
(4)
Underlying operating profit is defined as operating profit before
share-based payments charges (including the related National
Insurance) and transaction related charges
(5)
Underlying operating margin is defined as the underlying operating
profit as a percentage of revenue
(6)
Underlying basic EPS is defined as profit for the year before
share-based payments charges (including the related National
Insurance), and transaction-related charges and appropriate tax
adjustments, divided by the weighted average number of ordinary
shares in issue for the period
(7)
Cash generated from operating activities of £277.6m (2023: £268.2m)
compared to operating profit as reported in the income statement of
£256.3m (2023: £258.0m).
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
AS AT
31 DECEMBER 2024
|
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
|
Note
|
£000
|
£000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Revenue
|
3
|
389,882
|
364,316
|
|
Administrative expenses
|
|
(133,552)
|
(106,283)
|
|
Operating profit
|
4
|
256,330
|
258,033
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Underlying operating
profit:
|
|
273,916
|
264,570
|
|
Share-based incentive charge
|
12
|
(8,356)
|
(6,537)
|
|
Transaction related charges
|
4
|
(9,230)
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Financial income
|
|
2,617
|
2,227
|
|
Financial expenses
|
|
(547)
|
(491)
|
|
Net
financial income
|
|
2,070
|
1,736
|
|
Profit before tax
|
|
258,400
|
259,769
|
|
Income tax expense
|
7
|
(65,687)
|
(60,618)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Profit for the year being
total comprehensive income
|
|
192,713
|
199,151
|
|
Attributable
to:
Equity holders of the
Parent
|
|
192,713
|
199,151
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Earnings per share (pence)
|
|
|
|
|
Basic
|
5
|
24.4
|
24.5
|
|
Diluted
|
5
|
24.3
|
24.4
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF
FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2024
|
|
Note
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Non-current assets
|
|
|
|
|
Property, plant and
equipment
|
|
8,385
|
9,385
|
|
Intangible assets
|
|
36,245
|
21,842
|
|
Deferred tax asset
|
|
1,449
|
2,383
|
|
Total non-current assets
|
|
46,079
|
33,610
|
|
Current assets
|
|
|
|
|
Trade and other
receivables
|
8
|
29,001
|
31,474
|
|
Contract assets
|
|
1,270
|
759
|
|
Income tax receivable
|
|
905
|
165
|
|
Money market deposits
|
|
5,482
|
5,224
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents
|
|
35,761
|
33,641
|
|
Total current assets
|
|
72,419
|
71,263
|
|
Total assets
|
|
118,498
|
104,873
|
|
Current liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
Trade and other payables
|
9
|
(27,036)
|
(24,737)
|
|
Lease liabilities
|
|
(2,497)
|
(2,291)
|
|
Contract liabilities
|
|
(3,168)
|
(2,536)
|
|
Total current liabilities
|
|
(32,701)
|
(29,564)
|
|
Non-current liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
Other non-current
liabilities
|
|
(417)
|
-
|
|
Lease liabilities
|
|
(3,665)
|
(5,112)
|
|
Provisions
|
|
(853)
|
(841)
|
|
Total non-current liabilities
|
|
(4,935)
|
(5,953)
|
|
Total liabilities
|
|
(37,636)
|
(35,517)
|
|
Net
assets
|
|
80,862
|
69,356
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Equity
|
|
|
|
|
Share capital
|
10
|
795
|
814
|
|
Other reserves
|
|
637
|
618
|
|
Retained earnings (net of own shares
held)
|
|
79,430
|
67,924
|
|
Total equity attributable to the equity holders of the
Parent
|
|
80,862
|
69,356
|
The accompanying notes form part of these financial
statements.
The financial statements were
approved by the Board of Directors on 27 February 2025 and were
signed on its behalf by:
Johan Svanstrom
Director
Ruaridh Hook
Director
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF
CASH FLOWS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
|
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Cash flows from operating activities
|
|
|
|
|
Profit for the year
|
|
192,713
|
199,151
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Adjustments for:
|
|
|
|
|
Depreciation charges
|
|
3,613
|
3,424
|
|
Amortisation charges
|
|
2,386
|
1,560
|
|
Financial income
|
|
(2,617)
|
(2,227)
|
|
Financial expenses
|
|
547
|
491
|
|
Fair value movements on
investment
|
|
3,000
|
-
|
|
Share-based payments
|
|
7,439
|
5,886
|
|
Income tax expense
|
|
65,687
|
60,618
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operating cash flow before changes in working
capital
|
|
272,768
|
268,903
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decrease/(increase) in trade and
other receivables
|
|
2,429
|
(4,503)
|
|
Increase in trade and other
payables
|
|
2,299
|
3,863
|
|
Increase in contract
assets
|
|
(511)
|
(305)
|
|
Increase in contract
liabilities
|
|
632
|
211
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash generated from operating activities
|
|
277,617
|
268,169
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Financial expenses paid
|
|
(538)
|
(479)
|
|
Income taxes paid
|
|
(65,809)
|
(60,979)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
cash from operating activities
|
|
211,270
|
206,711
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash flows used in investing activities
|
|
|
|
|
Interest received on cash and cash
equivalents
|
|
2,404
|
1,694
|
|
Acquisition of property, plant and
equipment
|
|
(1,055)
|
(2,018)
|
|
Acquisition of subsidiary, net of
cash received
|
|
(7,552)
|
-
|
|
Acquisition of investment
|
|
(3,000)
|
-
|
|
Acquisition of intangible
assets
|
|
(8,023)
|
(1,328)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
cash used in investing activities
|
|
(17,226)
|
(1,652)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash flows used in financing activities
|
|
|
|
|
Dividends
|
|
(74,308)
|
(71,651)
|
|
Purchase of own shares for
cancellation
|
|
(107,441)
|
(130,000)
|
|
Purchase of own shares for share
incentive plans
|
|
(7,325)
|
(1,998)
|
|
Cost incurred on purchase of own
shares
|
|
(804)
|
(922)
|
|
Payment of principal portion of
lease liabilities
|
|
(2,781)
|
(2,530)
|
|
Proceeds on exercise of share-based
incentives
|
|
735
|
594
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net
cash used in financing activities
|
|
(191,924)
|
(206,507)
|
|
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and
cash equivalents
|
|
2,120
|
(1,448)
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents at
1 January
|
|
33,641
|
35,089
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 December
|
|
35,761
|
33,641
|
The accompanying notes form part of
these financial statements
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF
CHANGES IN SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
|
|
|
Share
capital
£000
|
Own
shares
held
£000
|
Other
reserves
£000
|
Reverse acquisition
reserve
£000
|
Retained
earnings
£000
|
Total
equity
£000
|
|
At
1 January 2023
|
|
838
|
(13,898)
|
456
|
138
|
80,629
|
68,163
|
|
Total comprehensive
income
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Profit
for the year
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
199,151
|
199,151
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Transactions with owners
recorded directly in equity
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share-based payments
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
5,886
|
5,886
|
|
Tax
credit in respect of share-based
incentives recognised directly in equity
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
133
|
133
|
|
Dividends
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(71,651)
|
(71,651)
|
|
Exercise
of share-based awards
|
|
-
|
2,156
|
-
|
-
|
(1,562)
|
594
|
|
Purchase
of shares for share incentive plans
|
|
-
|
(1,998)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(1,998)
|
|
Cancellation of own shares
|
|
(24)
|
-
|
24
|
-
|
(130,000)
|
(130,000)
|
|
Costs of
shares purchases
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(922)
|
(922)
|
|
At
31 December 2023
|
|
814
|
(13,740)
|
480
|
138
|
81,664
|
69,356
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At
1 January 2024
|
|
814
|
(13,740)
|
480
|
138
|
81,664
|
69,356
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total comprehensive
income
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Profit
for the year
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
192,713
|
192,713
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Transactions with owners
recorded directly in equity
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Share-based payments
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
7,439
|
7,439
|
|
Tax
charge in respect of
share-based incentives recognised directly in equity
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
497
|
497
|
|
Dividends
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(74,308)
|
(74,308)
|
|
Exercise
of share-based incentives
|
|
-
|
1,103
|
-
|
-
|
(368)
|
735
|
|
Purchase
of shares for
share
incentive plans
|
|
-
|
(7,325)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(7,325)
|
|
Cancellation of own shares
|
|
(19)
|
-
|
19
|
-
|
(107,441)
|
(107,441)
|
|
Costs of
share purchases
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
(804)
|
(804)
|
|
At
31 December 2024
|
|
795
|
(19,962)
|
499
|
138
|
99,392
|
80,862
|
The accompanying notes form part of
these financial statements.
NOTES
1 General information, judgements and
estimates
The
financial information set out above does not constitute the
company's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 December 2024
or 2023 but is derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for
2023 have been delivered to the registrar of companies, and those
for 2024 will be delivered by 31 March 2025.
The auditor has reported on those
accounts; their reports were (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include
a reference to any matters to which the auditor drew attention by
way of emphasis without qualifying their report and (iii) did not
contain a statement under section 498 (2) or (3) of the Companies
Act 2006.
Rightmove plc (the Company) is a
public limited company registered in England (Company no. 6426485)
domiciled in the United Kingdom (UK). The consolidated financial
statements of the Company as at and for the year ended 31 December
2024 comprise the Company and its interest in its subsidiaries
(together referred to as the Group).
The consolidated financial
statements of the Group as at and for the year ended 31 December
2024 are available on the corporate website at plc.rightmove.co.uk
or upon request to the Company Secretary from the Company's
registered office at 2 Caldecotte Lake Business Park, Caldecotte
Lake Drive, Caldecotte, Milton Keynes, MK7 8LE.
Statement of compliance
The Group's financial statements have been prepared and
approved by the Board of Directors in accordance with UK-adopted
international accounting standards ("IFRS"). The consolidated
financial statements were authorised for issue by the Board of
Directors on 27 February 2025.
Basis of preparation
The consolidated financial statements have been prepared in
accordance with UK-adopted international accounting standards and
the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. The financial
statements have been prepared on an historical cost basis and are
presented to the nearest £'000.
Climate change
In preparing the financial
statements, the Directors have considered the impact of climate
change, particularly in the context of the climate change risks
identified in the Sustainability section of the Strategic Report
and the Group's stated target of net zero carbon emissions by 2040.
These considerations did not have a material impact on the
financial reporting judgements and estimates in the current year.
This reflects the conclusion that climate change is not expected to
have a significant impact on the Group's short-term or medium-term
cash flows including those considered in the going concern and
viability assessments, impairment assessments of the carrying value
of non-current assets and the estimates of future profitability
used in our assessment of the recoverability of deferred tax
assets.
Basis of consolidation
Subsidiaries are entities controlled by the
Group. Control exists when the Group has existing rights that give
it the ability to direct the relevant activities of an entity and
affect the returns the Group will receive as a result of its
involvement with the entity. In assessing control, potential voting
rights that are currently exercisable or convertible are taken into
account. The financial statements of subsidiaries are included in
the consolidated financial statements from the date that control
commences until the date that control ceases.
Alternative performance measures
In the analysis of the Group's
financial performance, certain information disclosed in the
financial statements may be prepared on a non-GAAP basis or has
been derived from amounts calculated in accordance with IFRS but
are not themselves an expressly permitted GAAP measure. These
measures are reported in line with the way in which financial
information is analysed by management and designed to increase
comparability of the Group's year-on-year financial position, based
on its operational activity. The key alternative performance
measures presented by the Group are:
· Underlying profit: which is
defined as profit for the year before share-based payments charges
(including the related national insurance) and transaction related
charges and the appropriate tax adjustments;
· Underlying operating profit:
which is defined as operating profit before share-based payments
charges (including the related National Insurance) and transaction
related charges;
· Underlying basic earnings
per share (EPS): which is defined as underlying profit divided by
the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during
the period;
· Underlying costs: which is
defined as administrative expenses before share-based payments
charges (including the related National Insurance) and transaction
related charges; and
· Underlying operating margin:
which is defined as the underlying operating profit as a percentage
of revenue.
The Directors believe that these
alternative performance measures, which exclude charges or credits
that are not entirely driven by the principal operational activity
of the Group, provide useful information to investors and enhance
the understanding of our results. The charges that are not
entirely driven by the principal operational activity of the Group
include costs relating to share-based payments, transaction related
charges - such as those in relation to acquisitions, investments or
bid defence - and restructuring. The Directors therefore consider
underlying operating profit to be the most appropriate indicator of
the performance of the business and year-on-year trends.
A reconciliation of the underlying
performance measures to the GAAP measures are shown
below:
Underlying profit
A reconciliation of the profit
for the year to the underlying profit is presented
below:
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Profit for the year
|
192,713
|
199,151
|
|
Share-based incentives
charge
|
7,439
|
5,886
|
|
NI on share-based
incentives
|
917
|
651
|
|
Legal, professional and transaction
related charges
|
6,230
|
-
|
|
Investment fair value
loss
|
3,000
|
-
|
|
Impact on tax charge
|
(3,152)
|
(1,008)
|
|
Underlying profit
|
207,147
|
204,680
|
Underlying profit is used instead of
profit to calculate the underlying
basic earnings per share, which is underlying profit divided
by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue for the
period, whereas earnings per share is profit for the year divided
by weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue for the
period (see Note 5).
Underlying operating profit
A reconciliation of the operating
profit to the underlying operating profit is presented
below:
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Operating profit
|
256,330
|
258,033
|
|
Share-based incentives
charge
|
7,439
|
5,886
|
|
NI on share-based
incentives
|
917
|
651
|
|
Legal, professional and transaction
related charges
|
6,230
|
-
|
|
Investment fair value
loss
|
3,000
|
-
|
|
Underlying operating profit
|
273,916
|
264,570
|
Underlying operating profit is used
to calculate the underlying
operating margin: which is underlying operating profit as a
proportion of revenue, whereas the operating margin calculated as
operating profit as a proportion of revenue.
Underlying costs
A reconciliation of the
administrative expenses to the underlying costs is presented
below:
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Administration expenses
|
133,552
|
106,283
|
|
Share-based incentives
charge
|
(7,439)
|
(5,886)
|
|
NI on share-based
incentives
|
(917)
|
(651)
|
|
Legal, professional and transaction
related charges
|
(6,230)
|
-
|
|
Investment fair value
loss
|
(3,000)
|
-
|
|
Underlying costs
|
115,966
|
99,746
|
Going concern
The Directors have performed a
detailed going concern review and tested the Group's liquidity in a
range of scenarios, as set out below.
Throughout the period, the Group was
debt-free, remained highly cash generative and had a cash balance
of £35.8m and money market deposits of £5.5m at 31 December 2024
(31 December 2023: cash balance of £33.6m and money market
deposits of £5.2m).
The Group bought back shares to the
value of £107.4m during the period (2023: £130.0m) and paid
dividends totalling £74.3m in May and October 2024 (2023:
£71.7m).
In reaching its assessment on going
concern, the Directors have used the most recent Board approved
forecasts for the Group for the period to 30 June 2026 ("the going
concern period"), which have been modelled to reflect the expected
impact of current economic conditions on trading, as set out in
these financial statements.
In stress testing the future cash
flows of the Group, the Directors modelled a range of scenarios
which considered the effect on the Group of reductions of varying
severity in the number of housing transactions for the period to 30
June 2026 and modelled the likely timing of cashflows from our
customers during the going concern period.
These included severe but plausible
downside scenarios that are considered to pose the greatest threat
to the business model and future performance of the Group, such as:
an economic shock, increased competition and new disruptive
technologies, or a cyber threat. The model considered the impact of
changes in the key drivers of the Group's revenues, including
customer numbers and average revenue
per advertiser (ARPA) - one scenario
being a 30% reduction in revenue. Cost assumptions were also
considered in each of the severe but plausible scenarios, including
an increase in marketing costs and IT costs, employee recruitment
and retention costs, and higher spend on innovation and protection
of the platform. The scenarios were stress tested individually and
in combination. In all combinations of the scenarios tested, the
Group remained cash positive and debt-free.
The Directors also reviewed the
results of a reverse stress test, which was undertaken to provide
an illustration of the scenario required to exhaust cash balances.
The possibility of this scenario arising was assessed to be highly
remote and could arise only in extreme circumstances, much more
severe than the scenarios modelled above.
The Directors are confident that the
Group will remain cash positive and will have sufficient funds to
continue to meet its liabilities as they fall due for at least the
period to 30 June 2026 and have therefore prepared the financial
statements on a going concern basis.
Judgements and estimates
The preparation of the consolidated financial
statements in accordance with UK Adopted International accounting
standards and the requirements of Companies Act 2006 requires
management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that
affect the application of accounting policies and the reported
amounts of assets and liabilities, income and expenses. The
estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical
experience, and various other factors that are believed to be
reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the
basis of making judgements about carrying values of assets and
liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources.
Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing
basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the
period in which the estimate is revised and in any future periods,
if applicable.
Management has determined that there are no areas of estimation
uncertainty that have a significant risk of resulting in a material
adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within
the next financial year or critical judgements in applying
accounting policies that have a significant effect on the amounts
recognised in the consolidated financial statements.
2 Accounting policy information
New
and revised standards and interpretations
There were
no new standards adopted by the group that had a material impact
during the year.
The IASB
have issued a number of amendments to IFRS that became mandatory in
the period:
- IAS 1 regarding classification of liabilities as current or
non-current and non-current liabilities with covenants;
- IFRS 16 in relation to accounting for sale and leaseback
transactions; and
- IAS 7 and IFRS 7 disclosure updates regarding supplier finance
arrangements.
These amendments are either not
applicable or have an immaterial impact on the Group.
The Group has evaluated further
amendments to IFRS that will become mandatory in subsequent periods
and assessed that only IFRS 18: Presentation and Disclosure in
Financial Statements would have an impact on presentation, which
will be adopted in the year commencing 1 January 2027 when it
becomes effective. Whilst not expected to have an impact, the
review of IFRS 9 and IFRS 7, Amendments to the Classification and
Measurement of Financial Instruments, are still on
going.
Segmental reporting
Rightmove has one reportable
segment, being the consolidated result. Whilst the Chief Operating
Decision Maker separately monitors revenue for different business
units, they do not separately monitor business unit profit,
operating costs, financial income, financial expenses and income
taxes for these areas of the business, instead monitoring this on a
consolidated level.
The Group presents internal
financial information that measures business performance to the
Chief Executive Officer, who is the Group's Chief Operating
Decision Maker. This information is used for the purpose of making
decisions about resources to be allocated and of assessing
performance. This financial information includes information on
revenue performance and specific monitoring of trade receivable
levels for each of the following business units:
- Agency, which provides
resale and lettings property advertising services, Rental Operators
advertising and Rental Services on Rightmove's
platforms;
- New Homes, which
provides property advertising services to new home developers and
housing associations on Rightmove's platforms; and
- Other, which comprises Commercial and Overseas property
advertising services; and non-property advertising services which
include Third Party advertising and Data Services; and the
Financial Services (Mortgages) business.
3
Revenue
The Group's operations and main
revenue streams are those described in the annual financial
statements. The Group's revenue is derived from contracts with
customers.
Disaggregation of
revenue
In the following table, revenue is
disaggregated by property and non-property advertising revenue. The
table also includes a reconciliation of the disaggregated revenue
with the Group's business units.
|
Year ended
31
December 2024
|
Agency
|
New Homes
|
Other
|
Total
|
|
£000
|
£000
|
£000
|
£000
|
|
Revenue stream
|
|
|
|
|
|
Property products
|
279,989
|
69,198
|
20,118
|
369,305
|
|
Non-property products
|
-
|
-
|
20,577
|
20,577
|
|
|
279,989
|
69,198
|
40,695
|
389,882
|
|
Year ended
31 December 2023
|
Agency
|
New
Homes
|
Other
|
Total
|
|
£000
|
£000
|
£000
|
£000
|
|
Revenue stream
|
|
|
|
|
|
Property products
|
261,954
|
66,447
|
18,877
|
347,278
|
|
Non-property products
|
-
|
-
|
17,038
|
17,038
|
|
|
261,954
|
66,447
|
35,915
|
364,316
|
Geographic information
In presenting information geographically, revenue
and assets reflect the physical location of customers.
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
Group
|
Revenue
£000
|
Trade receivables
£000
|
Revenue
£000
|
Trade
receivables
£000
|
|
UK
|
384,112
|
21,796
|
358,470
|
24,480
|
|
Rest of the world
|
5,770
|
21
|
5,846
|
11
|
|
|
389,882
|
21,817
|
364,316
|
24,491
|
Contract
balances
The contract assets primarily relate
to the Group's rights to consideration for services provided but
not invoiced at the reporting date. The contract assets are
transferred to trade receivables when invoiced and the rights have
become unconditional. The contract liabilities primarily relate to
the advance consideration received from Agency, Overseas and
Commercial customers, for which revenue is recognised as or when
the services are provided. The following table provides information
about contract assets and contract liabilities from contracts with
customers:
|
|
Contract
assets
£000
|
Contract
liabilities
£000
|
|
Contract balances as at 31 December 2022
|
454
|
(2,325)
|
|
Performance obligations satisfied in
2022
|
(454)
|
-
|
|
Performance obligations satisfied in
2023
|
-
|
2,114
|
|
Accrued/(deferred) during
2023
|
759
|
(2,325)
|
|
Contract balances as at 31 December 2023
|
759
|
(2,536)
|
|
Performance obligations satisfied in
2023
Performance obligations satisfied in
2024
Accrued/(deferred) during
2024
|
(759)
-
1,270
|
-
2,470
(3,102)
|
|
Contract balances as at 31 December
2024
|
1,270
|
(3,168)
|
4
Operating profit
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Operating profit is stated after charging:
|
|
|
|
Employee benefits
|
64,420
|
54,544
|
|
Depreciation of property, plant and
equipment
|
3,613
|
3,424
|
|
Amortisation of
intangibles
|
2,386
|
1,560
|
|
Trade receivables impairment
charge
|
1,629
|
1,712
|
|
Legal, professional and transaction
related charges*
Investment fair value
loss
|
6,230
3,000
|
-
-
|
*Legal and professional fees in relation to transactions
includes fees in relation to acquisitions and investments (Note 13)
as well as costs in relation to the unsolicited offer for
Rightmove.
|
Auditor's remuneration
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Fees payable to the auditor in respect of the
audit
|
|
|
|
Audit of
the Company's financial statements
|
60
|
55
|
|
Audit of
the Company's subsidiaries pursuant to legislation
|
356
|
345
|
|
Total audit remuneration
|
416
|
400
|
|
Fees payable to the Company's auditor in respect of non-audit
related services
|
|
|
|
Half year review of the condensed
financial statements
|
66
|
40
|
|
Total non-audit remuneration
|
66
|
40
|
There were no other fees payable to
Ernst & Young LLP (2023: no other fees
payable).
5
Earnings per share (EPS)
|
|
|
Pence per
share
|
|
|
£000
|
Basic
|
Diluted
|
|
Year ended
31 December 2024
Profit for the year and
EPS
Underlying profit and
underlying EPS
|
192,713
207,147
|
24.4
26.2
|
24.3
26.1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year
ended 31 December 2023
Profit for the year and
EPS
Underlying profit and underlying EPS
|
199,151
204,680
|
24.5
25.2
|
24.4
25.1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Weighted average number of ordinary shares
(basic)
|
2024
Number of shares
|
2023
Number of shares
|
|
Issued
ordinary shares at 1 January less ordinary shares held by the
EBT and SIP Trust
|
811,252,473
|
835,094,530
|
|
Less own
shares held in treasury at the beginning of the year
|
(11,709,197)
|
(12,185,222)
|
|
Weighted
effect of own shares purchased for cancellation
|
(8,933,806)
|
(9,991,531)
|
|
Weighted
effect of share-based incentives exercised
|
363,417
|
433,805
|
|
Weighted
effect of shares purchased
|
(755,421)
|
(14,726)
|
|
Issued
ordinary shares at 31 December less ordinary shares held by
treasury, SIP and the EBT
|
790,217,466
|
813,336,856
|
Weighted average number of ordinary shares (diluted)
In calculating diluted EPS, the weighted average
number of ordinary shares in issue is adjusted to assume conversion
of all potentially dilutive shares. The Group's potentially
dilutive instruments are in respect of share-based incentives
granted to employees.
|
|
2024
Number of
shares
|
2023
Number of shares
|
|
Weighted average number of ordinary
shares (basic)
|
790,217,466
|
813,336,856
|
|
Dilutive impact of share-based
incentives outstanding
|
2,384,515
|
2,002,000
|
|
|
792,601,981
|
815,338,856
|
The
average market value of the Group's shares for the purposes of
calculating the dilutive effect of share-based incentives was based
on quoted market prices during the period which the share-based
incentives were outstanding.
6
Dividends
Dividends declared and paid by the
Company were as follows:
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
|
Pence per
share
|
£000
|
Pence
per share
|
£000
|
|
2022 final dividend paid
2023 interim dividend
paid
2023 final dividend paid
2024 interim dividend
paid
|
-
-
5.7
3.7
|
-
-
45,226
29,112
|
5.2
3.6
-
-
|
42,588
29,084
-
-
|
|
|
9.4
|
74,338
|
8.8
|
71,672
|
|
Unclaimed
dividends returned
|
-
|
(30)
|
-
|
(21)
|
|
Net dividends included in the
statement of cash flows
|
-
|
74,308
|
-
|
71,651
|
After the reporting date, a final
dividend of 6.1p (2023: 5.7p) per qualifying ordinary share,
being £46,900,000 (2023: £45,330,000), was proposed by the
Board of Directors. The final dividend will be paid, subject to
shareholder approval, on 23 May 2025.
The 2023 final dividend of
£45,226,000 (5.7p per qualifying share) was paid on 24 May 2024. It
was £104,000 lower than that reported in the 2023 annual accounts
due to a decrease in the ordinary shares entitled to a dividend
between 2 March 2024 and the final dividend record date of 28 April
2024.
The 2024 interim dividend paid on 25
October 2024 was £29,112,000, being £412,000 higher than that
reported in the 2024 Half Year report of £28,700,000. This was due
to an increase in the expected number of ordinary shares entitled
to a dividend between 30 June 2024 and the interim dividend record
date of 27 September 2024.
The terms of the EBT provide that
dividends payable on the ordinary shares held by the EBT are
waived. No provision was made for the final dividend in either
year, and there are no income tax consequences.
7
Income tax expense
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Current tax expense
|
|
|
|
Current year
|
65,214
|
61,324
|
|
Adjustment to current tax charge in
respect of prior years
|
(210)
|
149
|
|
|
65,004
|
61,473
|
|
Deferred tax
|
|
|
|
Origination and reversal of
temporary differences
|
578
|
(455)
|
|
Adjustment to deferred tax in
respect of prior years
|
105
|
(324)
|
|
Increase
in tax rate at which deferred tax is being recognised
|
-
|
(76)
|
|
|
683
|
(855)
|
|
Total income tax expense
|
65,687
|
60,618
|
|
|
|
| |
Income tax recognised directly in equity
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Current tax
|
|
|
|
Share-based incentives
|
(88)
|
(30)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax
Share-based incentives
|
(409)
|
(95)
|
|
Increase in tax rate at which
deferred tax is being recognised
|
-
|
(8)
|
|
|
(409)
|
(103)
|
|
Total income tax credit recognised directly in
equity
|
(497)
|
(133)
|
Reconciliation of effective tax rate
The Group's consolidated
effective tax rate for the year ended 31 December 2024 is
25.4% (2023: 23.3%) which is more than (2023: lower than) the
standard rate of corporation tax in the UK due to the items shown
below:
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Profit before tax
|
258,400
|
259,769
|
|
Current tax at 25% (2023: 23.5%)
|
64,600
|
61,098
|
|
Increase in tax rate at which
deferred tax is being provided
|
-
|
(76)
|
|
Net non-deductible
expenses/(non-taxable income)
|
1,068
|
(44)
|
|
Adjustment to deferred tax charge in
respect of prior years
|
105
|
(324)
|
|
Share-based incentives
|
124
|
(167)
|
|
Adjustment to current tax charge in
respect of prior years
|
(210)
|
149
|
|
Difference between the current and
deferred tax rates
|
-
|
(18)
|
|
|
65,687
|
60,618
|
Factors affecting future tax charge
The increase in the UK Corporation
Tax rate from 19% to 25% was effective 1 April 2023 (substantively
enacted on 24 May 2021). This has increased the Group's
current tax rate accordingly. The deferred tax at 31 December
2023 and 31 December 2024 has been calculated based on these rates,
reflecting the expected timing of reversal of the related temporary
differences.
8
Trade and other receivables
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Trade receivables
|
23,331
|
25,740
|
|
Less
provision for impairment of trade receivables
|
(1,514)
|
(1,249)
|
|
Net trade receivables
|
21,817
|
24,491
|
|
Prepayments
|
6,251
|
6,259
|
|
Interest receivable
|
361
|
405
|
|
Other debtors
|
572
|
319
|
|
|
29,001
|
31,474
|
9
Trade and other payables
|
|
2024
£000
|
2023
£000
|
|
Trade payables
|
1,326
|
2,057
|
|
Trade accruals
|
9,270
|
7,662
|
|
Other creditors
|
3,033
|
1,510
|
|
Other taxation and social
security
|
13,407
|
13,508
|
|
|
27,036
|
24,737
|
10
Share capital
|
|
2024
|
2023
|
|
|
Amount
£000
|
Number of
shares
|
Amount
£000
|
Number
of
Shares
|
|
In
issue ordinary shares
At 1 January
|
814
|
813,449,619
|
838
|
837,401,085
|
|
Purchase
and cancellation of shares
|
(19)
|
(18,772,755)
|
(24)
|
(23,951,466)
|
|
At 31 December
|
795
|
794,676,864
|
814
|
813,449,619
|
All issued shares are fully paid.
The nominal value of a share is 0.1p. The holders of ordinary
shares are entitled to receive dividends as declared from time to
time and are entitled to one vote per ordinary share at general
meetings of the Company. Included within shares in issue at
31 December 2024 are 1,833,148 (2023: 1,029,919) shares
held by the EBT, 1,320,429 (2023: 1,167,227) shares held by the SIP
and 11,168,495 (2023: 11,709,197) shares held in
Treasury.
In June 2007, Rightmove plc
commenced a share buyback program to purchase its own ordinary
shares. The total number of shares bought back in 2024 was
18,772,755 (2023: 23,951,466) shares representing 2.4%
(2023: 2.9%) of the ordinary shares in issue (excluding shares
held in treasury). All the shares bought back in both years were
cancelled. The shares were acquired on the open market at a total
consideration (excluding costs) of £107,441,000
(2023: £130,000,000). The maximum and minimum prices paid were
£6.84 (2023: £5.97) and £5.00 (2023: £4.73) per share
respectively. The average price paid was £5.72 (2023: £5.43). Costs
incurred on purchase of own shares in relation to stamp duty
charges and broker expenses for share buy backs were £753,000
(2023: £910,000). Costs incurred on purchase of own shares in
relation to stamp duty charges and broker expenses for the SIP
award were £14,000 (2023: £12,000) and for the RSP award were
£37,000 (2023: £nil).
11 Reconciliation of movement in capital and reserves
|
Own
shares held - £000
|
EBT shares
reserve
£000
|
SIP shares
reserve
£000
|
Treasury
shares
£000
|
Total
£000
|
|
Own shares held as at 1 January
2023
|
(3,157)
|
(4,952)
|
(5,789)
|
(13,898)
|
|
Shares purchased for share incentive
plans
|
(725)
|
(1,273)
|
-
|
(1,998)
|
|
Shares transferred to SIP
|
725
|
(725)
|
-
|
-
|
|
Share-based incentives exercised in
the year
|
1,297
|
557
|
230
|
2,084
|
|
SIP releases in the year
|
-
|
72
|
-
|
72
|
|
Own shares held as at 31 December
2023
|
(1,860)
|
(6,321)
|
(5,559)
|
(13,740)
|
|
Own
shares held as at 1 January 2024
|
(1,860)
|
(6,321)
|
(5,559)
|
(13,740)
|
|
Shares purchased for share incentive
plans
|
(5,910)
|
(1,415)
|
-
|
(7,325)
|
|
Shares transferred to SIP
|
594
|
(594)
|
-
|
-
|
|
Share-based incentives exercised in
the year
|
66
|
713
|
260
|
1,039
|
|
SIP releases in the year
|
-
|
64
|
-
|
64
|
|
Own
shares held as at 31 December 2024
|
(7,110)
|
(7,553)
|
(5,299)
|
(19,962)
|
Own
shares held - number of shares
|
|
EBT shares
reserve
|
SIP shares
reserve
|
Treasury
shares
|
Total
|
|
Own shares held as at 1 January
2023
|
1,375,963
|
930,592
|
12,185,222
|
14,491,777
|
|
Shares purchased for share incentive
plans
|
127,240
|
226,335
|
-
|
353,575
|
|
Shares transferred to SIP
|
(127,240)
|
127,240
|
-
|
-
|
|
Share-based incentives exercised in
the year
|
(346,044)
|
(104,740)
|
(476,025)
|
(926,809)
|
|
SIP releases in the year
|
-
|
(12,200)
|
-
|
(12,200)
|
|
Own shares held as at 31 December
2023
|
1,029,919
|
1,167,227
|
11,709,197
|
13,906,343
|
|
Own
shares held as at 1 January 2024
|
1,029,919
|
1,167,227
|
11,709,197
|
13,906,343
|
|
Shares purchased for share incentive
plans
|
1,028,015
|
209,088
|
-
|
1,237,103
|
|
Shares transferred to SIP
|
(88,502)
|
88,502
|
-
|
-
|
|
Share-based incentives exercised in
the year
|
(136,284)
|
(132,413)
|
(540,702)
|
(809,399)
|
|
SIP releases in the year
|
-
|
(11,975)
|
-
|
(11,975)
|
|
Own
shares held as at 31 December 2024
|
1,833,148
|
1,320,429
|
11,168,495
|
14,322,072
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
(a) EBT
shares reserve
This reserve represents the cost of
own shares acquired by the EBT less any exercises of share-based
incentives.
At 31 December 2024, the
EBT held 1,833,148 (2023: 1,029,919) of the ordinary shares in
issue, representing 0.2% (2023: 0.1%) of the ordinary shares
in issue (excluding shares held in treasury). The market value of
the shares held in the EBT at 31 December 2024 was
£11,765,000 (2023: £5,928,000).
(b) SIP shares
reserve
In November 2014, the Rightmove
Share Incentive Plan Trust (SIP) was established. This reserve
represents the cost of acquiring shares less any exercises or
releases of SIP awards. Employees of Rightmove Group Limited and
Rightmove plc were offered 445 free shares with effect from 19
December 2024 (2023: 600),
subject to a three-year service
period. During the year shares were exercised 132,413 (2023:
104,740) and 11,975 shares (2023: 12,200) were released by the SIP
in relation to good leavers and retirees. 88,502 shares were
transferred to the SIP reserve from the EBT (2023:
127,240).
At 31 December 2024, the
SIP held 1,320,429 (2023: 1,167,227) of the ordinary shares in
issue, representing 0.2% (2023: 0.1%) of the ordinary shares in
issue (excluding shares held in treasury). The market value of the
shares held in the SIP at 31 December 2024 was £8,475,000
(2023: £6,718,000).
(c) Treasury
shares
This represents the cost of
acquiring shares held in treasury less any exercises of share-based
incentives. These shares were bought in 2008 at an average price of
47.60 pence and may be used to satisfy certain share-based
incentive awards. At 31 December 2024, the Treasury held 11,168,495
of the ordinary shares in issue. The market value of the shares
held in treasury at 31 December 2024 was £71,679,000 (2023:
£67,398,000).
Other reserves
Other reserves of £499,000 (2023:
£480,000) represents the Capital Redemption Reserve in respect of
own shares bought back and cancelled. The movement of £19,000
(2023: £24,000) is the nominal value of ordinary shares bought
back and cancelled during the year.
Retained earnings
The loss on the exercise of
share-based incentives of £368,000 (2023: £1,562,000) is the
difference between the weighted average value that the own shares,
held individually by the EBT, SIP and treasury, were originally
acquired at and the exercise price at which share-based incentives
were exercised or released during the year.
Reverse acquisition reserve
This reserve of £138,000 (2023:
£138,000) resulted from the acquisition of Rightmove Group Limited
by Rightmove plc and represents the difference between the value of
the shares acquired at 28 January 2008 and the nominal value of the
shares issued.
12 Share-based payments
The Group operates share-based
incentive schemes for executive directors and employees.
All share-based incentives are subject to a service condition. Such
conditions are not taken into account in the fair value of the
service received. The fair value of services received in return for
share-based incentives is measured by reference to the fair value
of share-based incentives granted.
The Group recognised a total
share-based payments charge for the year of £7,439,000 (2023:
£5,886,000). The NI charge for the year, relating to all awards,
was £917,000 (2023: £651,000). The share price at 31 December 2024
was £6.42 (2023: £5.76).
The total charge in relation to
share-based payments was £8,356,000 (2023: £6,537,000)
13
Business combinations and other acquisitions
HomeViews Platform
Limited
On 1 February 2024, the Group
acquired the entire ordinary share capital of HomeViews Platform
Limited, a business providing the UK's biggest community of
verified resident reviews of property developments, with a
particular focus on the build to rent sector. This augments our
existing Rental Operators proposition, provides a basis for
introducing resident reviews into other business units, and will
leverage the scale benefits that the Rightmove platform and
customer base bring to the HomeViews' existing market. This
acquisition has been treated in line with IFRS 3 - business
combinations.
|
Total
consideration
|
£000
|
|
Cash consideration
|
8,471
|
|
Total consideration
|
8,471
|
The
following table provides a reconciliation of the amounts included
in the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows:
|
|
£000
|
|
Cash consideration
|
8,471
|
|
Net of cash and cash equivalents
acquired
|
(519)
|
|
Net cash cost paid for
subsidiary
|
7,952
|
|
Deferred consideration
|
(400)
|
|
Net
cash outflow included in the statement of cash
flows
|
7,552
|
The total cash consideration of
£8,471,000 excludes acquisition costs of £590,000, which have been
recognised as an expense in the period in the Consolidated
Statement of Comprehensive Income (£370,000 in the period and
£220,000 in December 2023). Included within transaction costs on
acquisition of £590,000 are legal and due diligence fees and stamp
duty. The deferred consideration will be payable on the second
anniversary of the completion date and has no performance
obligations
.
In the eleven-month period to 31
December 2024, HomeViews contributed revenue of £1.3m and a trading
loss after tax of £0.2m to the Group's results. If the acquisition
had occurred on 1 January 2024, management estimates that
consolidated revenue would have been £1.4m and consolidated profit
for the period would have still been lowered by £0.2m. In
determining these amounts, management has assumed that the fair
value adjustments, determined provisionally, that arose on the date
of acquisition would have been the same if the acquisition had
occurred on 1 January 2024.
The deferred consideration of
£400,000 has accrued £17,000 of interest in the post-acquisition
period.
Net
assets acquired
The
following table details the final fair values of the assets and
liabilities acquired at the date of acquisition:
|
|
Carrying values
pre-acquisition
£000
|
Fair value adjustments
£000
|
Fair
values
£000
|
|
Non-current assets
|
|
|
|
|
Property,
plant and equipment
|
14
|
-
|
14
|
|
Intangible
assets - IT development costs
|
-
|
757
|
757
|
|
Intangible
assets - customer relationships
|
-
|
1,845
|
1,845
|
|
Total
non-current assets
|
14
|
2,602
|
2,616
|
|
Current
assets
|
|
|
|
|
Trade and
other receivables
|
150
|
-
|
150
|
|
Cash and
cash equivalents
|
519
|
-
|
519
|
|
Total
current assets
|
669
|
-
|
669
|
|
Current
liabilities
|
|
|
|
|
Trade and
other payables
|
(328)
|
-
|
(328)
|
|
Total
current liabilities
|
(328)
|
-
|
(328)
|
|
Non-current liabilities - deferred tax
|
-
|
(650)
|
(650)
|
|
Fair value of net assets
acquired
|
355
|
1,952
|
2,307
|
Goodwill
Goodwill
arising from the acquisition has been recognised as
follows:
|
|
£000
|
|
Total
consideration
|
8,471
|
|
Fair value
of net assets acquired
|
(2,307)
|
|
Goodwill
|
6,164
|
The goodwill figure recognised above
includes the knowledge and experience of HomeViews which is
established within the Rental Operators markets, their skilled
workforce and the reputation of the business.
This is together with the synergy
benefits expected to the Group through leveraging the scale and
reach of the Rightmove customer base, its sales and marketing teams
and technological capability. For the purposes of impairment
testing, goodwill allocated to the relevant lowest cash generating
unit which is the Agency only unit.
The Directors have considered the
fair value of assets and liabilities acquired and have
concluded that there are no other intangible assets to be
recognised other than goodwill, computer software and customer
relationships.
Investment in Coadjute
Limited
During the period, the Group
acquired a 7.4% holding in Coadjute Limited, a business providing a
nationwide infrastructure for the property market, connecting
buyers, sellers and property professionals with data, services, and
each other. Other investors include Lloyds Banking Group,
Nationwide and NatWest. The potential of a platform like Coadjute
to, over time, digitise and transform the house purchase journey -
reducing the time to closure and providing greater visibility of
the progress of the transaction to buyers, sellers and lenders - is
immense, but this is a journey that will take time.
For that reason, the investment is
strategic and longer-term in its nature and the acquisition cost of
£3.0m is considered to have a fair value of £nil and is recognised
in the Income Statement as a strategic research-related
cost.
14
Subsequent events
There were no subsequent events, between the 31 December 2024
and the reporting date.
ADVISERS AND SHAREHOLDER INFORMATION
|
Contacts
|
|
Registered office
|
Corporate advisers
|
|
|
|
Chief Executive Officer:
|
Johan Svanstrom
|
Rightmove plc
|
Financial
adviser
|
|
|
Chief Financial Officer:
Company Secretary:
Website:
|
Ruaridh Hook
Carolyn Pollard
https://plc.rightmove.co.uk
|
2
Caldecotte Lake
Business
Park
Caldecotte Lake Drive
|
UBS
Investment Bank
Joint
brokers
|
|
|
|
|
Milton
Keynes
|
UBS AG
London Branch
|
|
|
|
|
MK7
8LE
|
Peel Hunt
LLP
|
|
|
|
|
Registered in
|
Auditor
|
|
|
|
|
England no. 06426485
|
Ernst
& Young LLP
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bankers
|
|
|
Financial calendar 2024
|
|
|
Barclays
Bank plc
|
|
|
2024 full year results
Final dividend record date
|
28 February 2025
25 April 2025
|
|
Santander
UK plc
HSBC UK
Bank plc
Lloyds
Banking Group plc
|
|
|
Annual General Meeting
Final dividend payment
Half year results
|
9 May 2025
23 May 2025
25 July 2025
|
|
Solicitors
EMW
LLP
|
|
|
|
|
|
Linklaters
LLP
|
|
|
|
|
|
Herbert
Smith Freehills LLP
|
|
|
|
|
|
Registrar
|
|
|
|
|
|
MUFG
Corporate Markets (1)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
(1) Shareholder
enquiries
The Company's registrar is MUFG
Corporate Markets. They will be pleased to deal with any questions
regarding your shareholding or dividends. Please notify them of
your change of address or other personal information. Their contact
details are:
Shareholder helpline:
0371 664 0300 calls are charged at the standard
geographic rate and will vary by provider. Calls outside the United
Kingdom will be charged at the applicable international rate. Lines
are open between 09:00 - 17:30, Monday to Friday excluding public
holidays in England and Wales.
Email: shareholderenquiries@cm.mpms.mufg.com
Signal Shares shareholder
portal:
www.signalshares.com
Address: MUFG Corporate
Markets
Central Square
29 Wellington Street
Leeds
LS1 4DL
Shareholders can register online to
view your holdings using the shareholder portal, a service offered
by Link Group at www.signalshares.com.
The shareholder portal is an online service enabling you to quickly
and easily access and maintain your shareholding online - reducing
the need for paperwork and providing 24 hour access for your
convenience. You may:
- View your holding balance and
get an indicative valuation
- View the dividend payments you
have received
- Cast your proxy vote on the
AGM resolutions online
- Update your address
- Register and change bank
mandate instructions so that dividends can be paid directly to your
bank account
- Elect to receive shareholder
communications electronically
- Access a wide range of
shareholder information and download shareholder forms
